Medieval times saw the invention of the padded horse collar, a device that enabled the plowman to get more tractive force from the powerful beast attached to the plow. The padding of the collar prevented the noose from cutting off air flowing through the animal’s windpipe as the horse pulled the plow.
That simple invention, or improvement, coupled with a better designed plow than the ancients had used increased food production. Its use is an argument that slight modifications in anything, from machines to artificial intelligence can enhance the human condition. If only we humans could make such small improvements to our emotional restrictions that act like an ancient horse collar!
Emotional Restrictions
The last few decades in America and western Europe have been a period of constricting emotions that polarized populations as much as during anytime in history, maybe even as much as during the conflicts between religious denominations like Catholics and Protestants, and Shia and Sunni. And the reason is that modern media are still using the methods of communication that the early newsmen used. Every story with a social or political side to it is told with constricting single point of view.
But such constrictions are probably the human way. It’s difficult to write a comparison/contrast piece, especially when one is already committed to a particular perspective. Opinion and supposition constrict all our efforts to communicate and make only shallow furrows in which only shallow-rooted thoughts can thrive. In addition, many reporters prefer to plow unproductive soils. There’s a recent example.
The Trump-South African White House Press Conference
I was in my truck on the road when I heard the press conference during the conference between President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and President Trump. As I listened, I heard the American President accost Ramaphosa over deaths of white South Africans and the demise of white South African farming because of a criminal trend to take their land. Over the radio I heard Trump describe burial crosses along a road, presumably those of white farmers who were murdered.
Then came time for questioning. A reporter from NBC ignored the accusations of genocide to ask about the plane Qatar had given to the US Air Force to use as Air Force One. The purpose of the question, if recent history of NBC’s relation with Trump is a guide, was to grow some scandal, to insinuate that the gift was to enrich Trump. Murders meant nothing. Murders weren’t of concern, just as illegal immigration wasn’t a concern until Trump started expelling South and Central American gangs. But the NBC focus shifted when the Trump Administration allowed South African Caucasians to enter the country, a move the Left-leaning Press obviously spun as “another” instance of Trumpian white-nationalist racism.
That South Africans shook off Apartheid decades ago was a notable accomplishment akin to our Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. But South Africa, one of the richest countries in natural resources, fell into a rule by corruption, bribery, and crime. The Black population of the country still suffers from a bad economy that has a 33.5% unemployment rate. That the crime has led to the decimation of once productive farming run by Caucasians seems to garner little interest in the Press, especially in a Press devoted to growing scandals in the political soil and in finding something—anything—to blame on Trump. The new Air Force One, was accepted because the new Boeing plane under construction has been delayed. Boeing is contracted to build two new Air Force One jets, designated VC-25B, which are based on the Boeing 747-8. However, the project has been significantly delayed, with the original delivery date of 2024 now pushed back to 2027 or later, and even potentially to 2029. Qatar’s gift plane fills the gap.
But what soil is more productive? A delving into the possible genocide of whites or the Qatari gift? The Trump Derangement Syndrome that has plagued the Press since he announced his candidacy for his first term, has constricted the media for at least 14 years. “They” can’t get over it. “They” can’t stop using the old inefficient plows and constricting collars they wear around their own necks as they plow infertile soil hoping to grow a crop of scandals.
That simple invention, or improvement, coupled with a better designed plow than the ancients had used increased food production. Its use is an argument that slight modifications in anything, from machines to artificial intelligence can enhance the human condition. If only we humans could make such small improvements to our emotional restrictions that act like an ancient horse collar!
Emotional Restrictions
The last few decades in America and western Europe have been a period of constricting emotions that polarized populations as much as during anytime in history, maybe even as much as during the conflicts between religious denominations like Catholics and Protestants, and Shia and Sunni. And the reason is that modern media are still using the methods of communication that the early newsmen used. Every story with a social or political side to it is told with constricting single point of view.
But such constrictions are probably the human way. It’s difficult to write a comparison/contrast piece, especially when one is already committed to a particular perspective. Opinion and supposition constrict all our efforts to communicate and make only shallow furrows in which only shallow-rooted thoughts can thrive. In addition, many reporters prefer to plow unproductive soils. There’s a recent example.
The Trump-South African White House Press Conference
I was in my truck on the road when I heard the press conference during the conference between President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and President Trump. As I listened, I heard the American President accost Ramaphosa over deaths of white South Africans and the demise of white South African farming because of a criminal trend to take their land. Over the radio I heard Trump describe burial crosses along a road, presumably those of white farmers who were murdered.
Then came time for questioning. A reporter from NBC ignored the accusations of genocide to ask about the plane Qatar had given to the US Air Force to use as Air Force One. The purpose of the question, if recent history of NBC’s relation with Trump is a guide, was to grow some scandal, to insinuate that the gift was to enrich Trump. Murders meant nothing. Murders weren’t of concern, just as illegal immigration wasn’t a concern until Trump started expelling South and Central American gangs. But the NBC focus shifted when the Trump Administration allowed South African Caucasians to enter the country, a move the Left-leaning Press obviously spun as “another” instance of Trumpian white-nationalist racism.
That South Africans shook off Apartheid decades ago was a notable accomplishment akin to our Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. But South Africa, one of the richest countries in natural resources, fell into a rule by corruption, bribery, and crime. The Black population of the country still suffers from a bad economy that has a 33.5% unemployment rate. That the crime has led to the decimation of once productive farming run by Caucasians seems to garner little interest in the Press, especially in a Press devoted to growing scandals in the political soil and in finding something—anything—to blame on Trump. The new Air Force One, was accepted because the new Boeing plane under construction has been delayed. Boeing is contracted to build two new Air Force One jets, designated VC-25B, which are based on the Boeing 747-8. However, the project has been significantly delayed, with the original delivery date of 2024 now pushed back to 2027 or later, and even potentially to 2029. Qatar’s gift plane fills the gap.
But what soil is more productive? A delving into the possible genocide of whites or the Qatari gift? The Trump Derangement Syndrome that has plagued the Press since he announced his candidacy for his first term, has constricted the media for at least 14 years. “They” can’t get over it. “They” can’t stop using the old inefficient plows and constricting collars they wear around their own necks as they plow infertile soil hoping to grow a crop of scandals.
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